Shrinking Universe
by Mirabean
Summary: Humanity can't play God to itself. It's just too bad that Earth's about to find that out the hard way. And somehow, Leila is going to find herself in the center of it all, along with one of humanity's greatest tyrants. Set pre-Star Trek, around the time of the Eugenics Wars. M to be safe. Khan/OC.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello all! So I had this idea for a story awhile back and it won't leave me alone. Eventually, it's gonna be Khan/OC, but it'll take a while. Ralph Offenhouse, Dr. Kaur, and Gary Seven are all part of the official Star Trek universe as well. Also, I'm starting this in the 20th century! It'll go through the Eugenics Wars and then into the 2009 version. The first chapter is more of a prologue, just to establish some backstory. No flames please, but constructive criticism is welcome.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek or any of the novels associated with it.**

* * *

_"Hello darkness, my old friend, I've come to talk with you again. Because a vision softly creeping, Left its seeds while I was sleeping. And the vision that was planted in my brain, Still remains. Within the sound of silence." _

\- The Sound of Silence, Simon and Garfunkel

* * *

**The Thar Desert**

** India May 7, 1974 **

Jaipur had looked better on the postcard he had purchased for his wife that morning. Pictures had a way of doing that. There was no smog, the ancient buildings gleamed, and the exotic fruit stands were fruit stands, not a filthy slum. One private car ride and two hours outside the city, his suit jacket was clinging to his back with sweat. However, Ralph Offenhouse supposed it didn't matter anyway; his destination was underground. It would be cooler down there, with none of the humidity that seemed to strangle the air out of him currently. "We've arrived, Mr. Offenhouse," The driver informed him as he slowed the Mercedes to a stop.

There was nothing remotely interesting about the worn-down compound from the outside. Aside from the single road in and out of the gates and the electric, barbed wire fences surrounding it, the main building could've passed for any storage facility. Offenhouse knew better. The Mercedes pulled away and he began walking toward the front. He pressed the intercom: "This is Ralph Offenhouse, tell Dr. Kaur I've arrived." It scarcely took a moment before the door slid open and two military men stood aside for him to enter.

"Mr. Offenhouse, sir, we'll need to inspect you before you go any further," the bulkier of the two men explained.

_Damn Pathetic._ Offenhouse scoffed, "You realize—"

The second man nodded, "Sir, it's protocol. Don't matter if you're head financier or a janitor. Everybody here needs to be checked by us."

"Why, you been having problems with security?" Offenhouse stepped around.

"Sir!"

"I'll be talking to the director about this. You understand?" A pause. "I asked you a question, mister. Do. You. Understand."

The men looked at each other, and Offenhouse could see the decision in their eyes before they made it. The one who had initially stopped him was the one to speak. "Of course. Sorry to be a bother, Mr. Offenhouse."

"Good. Lead the way, gentlemen."

* * *

Dr. Kaur would be returning to her office shortly. The secretary had informed Offenhouse that he was free to go in and wait. It was well-known that Chrysalis' director prefered spending her time in the basement labs in order to oversee the development of her creations directly. In past visits to the center, Offenhouse had noted she had particularly spent her time interacting with the one she herself had been a surrogate for. Kaamil, Kaman, Kamat— some distinctive cultural name or another. He couldn't be bothered to think about it right now. It just served as a cringe-worthy reminder to his own problems.

Secondary infertility. That was what his wife, Marie Offenhouse, had learned from their doctor a year and a half after the difficult birth of their son, Robert. Almost ten years had passed to date since they'd received the news. She'd sunk into a depression and began drinking, especially when he was away from home on business trips such as these. How many times Marie had begged him not to go, and give up his financing of the Chrysalis Project completely._ "I don't give a rat's ass about your Utopia genetic bullshit world anymore! This is your job, Ralph, not your life! And I'm your wife, dammit, damn you!" _

She'd screamed and cried. The beautiful, quiet woman he'd married was a homemaker and wanted nothing more than to be a mother to her family, a happy family that was nothing like the one she'd grown up in. He supposed the gnawing feeling he had at leaving her and Robby behind was why he'd brought her the postcard in the first place. To prove he still cared about her. But she just couldn't understand, she didn't know how important, how crucial, his work was.

So much had happened in the past century. Countries around the world brought nationalism to a fever pitch, itching to begin a conflict as a result of their imperialist policies and military buildup. Ralph remembered hearing about— and seeing— how his grandfather had wasted five months in the trenches during the First World War, only to return home with twin holes tunneled through the back of his head where the surgeons had let out the excess mustard gas. Still, the armistice of 1918 hadn't solved anything, if it had, then his father wouldn't have spent Ralph's childhood pinpointing strategy for the Allies in Eastern Africa. Humanity was wasted, it had accomplished terrible things and the atrocities—

The door swung open and Dr. Kaur entered. "Ralph! Welcome back. We just received the new chemical shipment last week, border security had to be paid off again." This, he could believe. The Indian government knew nothing about the project. Any minor or otherwise necessary details were reserved for the ears of Indira Gandhi and some select others alone.

"Good. Happy to hear it," Ralph reached into his inner jacket, pulling out an envelope. "Some of us had a meeting in San Francisco the other day. Here's a list of the new financial plans for '75, as they stand right now."

"Mmm." She took the envelope, opening it and perusing the paper inside. "As long as you're here, you should join me for a tour of the new nurseries."

Offenhouse smirked, "Is that an offer or an order?" Nonetheless, he opened the door leading from her office as she rolled her eyes.

"It means we have a surrogate in labor and I want to see how our new augment turns out. Hurry up."

* * *

What creeped Ralph out the most about augment babies was that they didn't cry. Sure, they wailed for food and their caretakers, as any new child would, but the weren't the incessantly screeching mess that most newborns were, Robby included. The girl had been declared healthy by Kaur and her associates, including the one next to him now, leaning heavily against the glass window looking into the birth chamber. Gary Seven was his name and, Ralph noted, he didn't seem like the type of man that would normally spend his time around this sort of thing.

"'Spose you don't have any kids of your own, do you Mr. Offenhouse?" Gary asked. Ralph nodded politely, staring ahead where the heart machine beeped over the newborn's biobed.

"As a matter of fact, I do. A son, Robert."

The men passed into a comfortable silence, and Ralph took his time to examine the sleeping infant. She didn't look like anything special, yet her lungs were already twice as strong as his, she'd be running circles around Robby in mathematics by the age of five, and never would she ever suffer injury, unless it was from another augment child during a play fight. It really is amazing what we've done in the past twenty years. Gary's brash drawl reached Ralph's ears again.

"It'd be interesting to get a few of them outta here. Ya' know? See if we can integrate them into normal society—" Clearing his throat, Ralph mulled over the thought. Raising an augment. He pictured Marie, rocking the baby girl in her arms, running across the yard with her, the buildup of liquor bottles gone from the cabinets and their trash bins.

He turned to face the man, "You understand that they're here for a purpose, a purpose I, among others, have given millions towards in funds—"

Gary paused. "Yes, I know. But some, myself included, believe the… superior intellect of these children would better be served in society via direct exposure at an early age. They could be raised alongside their peers, normal human children—"

"— Because nothing good could come of raising a genetically superior group of individuals together for the first twenty years of their lives with no outside contact other than a group of god-defying scientists and human teachers with inferior mental ability."

Apparently, Kaur had managed to enter without either of them knowing, and Ralph snapped out of his thoughts of parenthood. The woman lightly laughed, and he smiled politely, while Gary retreated back into a corner. "I don't think you'll have anything to worry about, Mr. Seven."

It might've been a trick of the harsh lighting in the corridor, but something harsh in the eyes of his colleague almost, for a moment, made Offenhouse think the opposite. Behind her, something dark slowly moved forward. Oh, right, the boy she was so inclined towards. And he still couldn't recall the child's name— _no, not quite a child._ An augment perhaps a few years older than Robby, with short, dark hair and an unreadable expression on his face. _Komad? Kamal?_

"Your driver has arrived, Ralph, " she addressed him, "Thank you for your continued support and I wish you a safe trip back."

"Of course, Dr. Kaur." He nodded towards Gary. "Have a good day, Mr. Seven." Ralph glanced back once more through the window into the room where the girl lay, sleeping soundly. No mother would be there to nurse her later on, the woman had probably been paid already for her secrecy and was undergoing recovery in a separate wing, no doubt aided by drugs to help fuzz up her memories of the day's events. And then, he felt another set of eyes on him.

The teen, standing straight, arms folded behind him, was scrutinizing him like Ralph was a sample under a microscope. He met the boy's eyes— _what was his damn name—_ and tipped his head in acknowledgement. The kid didn't look away, but the corners of his mouth seemed to pull up ever-so-slightly, like he was proud of Ralph's response to him. _Arrogant little jackass. _

Behind him, Kaur chuckled. "Of course, you probably don't remember my little shadow." She stepped aside and gestured at the boy.

Ralph forced a smile in return. "I'm afraid Dr. Kaur is right, son. What do they call you, again?" The augment didn't answer, instead drawing his vision to the child asleep, studying it as a cat might look at a new addition to their household. Seeming to decide as if there was nothing there to interest him, the boy turned back to Ralph. His voice was clearly dismissive of the adult in front of him.

"You may call me Khan."

* * *

**San Francisco, United States **

**May 19, 1974 **

"... Thoroughly unexpected by the international community. When asked about the reasons behind the secretive conduction of the nation's first nuclear test, government officials refused to make further comments. The explosion, already nicknamed Smiling Buddha, came from a remote location in the Thar Desert—"

Ralph turned off the radio, sick to his stomach. The news had already reached him the morning before. Dr. Kaur was dead, hundreds of augment children were in the process of being recovered, and the Chrysalis Project… gone. The project he'd put so much time into, given so much financial backing to in the name of humanity, had literally gone up in flame. Somehow, someone had managed to infiltrate the program and nothing was left.

Almost nothing, that was. He looked at the letter on his desk, unable to process it. _"Ralph. I saw the way you looked at her the other day. You need this baby as much as she needs parents, not scientists, looking after her. Things here are chaos, I don't know how but we've gotta cover it up somehow and find the rest of them. Remember what I said. Her birth mother named her Leila Dohai, but call her what you want. Gary." _

Ralph wandered out into the hall across from his office, looking down at the living room from the top of the stairs. The living room where Marie gently rocked Leila back and forth, cooing at her as she gently fed her bottled formula.

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**Tell me what you think. I'm looking forward to reviews and will try to update regularly.**

**Xx Mirabean**


	2. Chapter 2

**Authors Note: **

**Um, so… long time no see. That's totally my fault. I got five chapters in and scrapped most of it because Leila wasn't "augment enough" according to what my brain was saying. And so I just took a break after that despite telling you all that yada about regular updates so oops. Anyways, this chapter has a lot of information on Leila's personality. Some of you might find it dry, I don't know, but I though it would be important to just let you get an understanding of her.**

**THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO REVIEWED, FOLLOWED, FAVORITED. You were all so sweet and so this is for all of you for giving this a shot :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek. I just brought a Muppets coffee mug for college though and I'm super excited because Kermit. **

**...I don't own Kermit either.**

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_"Listen to each drop of rain,_

_Whispering secrets in vain._

_Frantically searching for someone to hear,_

_Their story before they hit ground._

_Please don't let go_

_Can't we stay for a while?_

_It's just too hard to say goodbye..."_

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**England**

**February 2nd, 1995.**

* * *

"Your father loved you, we both love you so much, Leila."

Leila rested her head against the glass of the car window. It seemed like death and war were the only constants in her life anymore. _Robert, gone, victim to massacre while stationed in Eastern Africa. Dad, finally killed by his heart condition. Her childhood friends, drafted, sent abroad…_ Her mom's voice broke through her thoughts again. "A lot's changed in the past couple years."

Leila scoffed, "Yeah, who would've thought four years ago that Dad would actually refuse medical treatment- treatment we could actually still get back in San Fran despite the fact everything was being shipped overseas for World War Three- and instead put his body in a freezer to be ejected into Space?"

Marie Offenhouse threw a wearied look at her daughter, "You know it's what he wanted, what he planned out. He personally financed the project and-"

"-he wanted to see its end." Leila finished. "If he had really wanted to do so, why did he fund the augment program in the first place? That's what started this entire stupid thing. Couldn't he see how it would end up?" She closed her eyes and tried to steady her breathing, but the tears leaked out anyway. _Get yourself under control. Oh hell._

Leila wasn't much of a cryer, she didn't think of it as solving much of anything. But after a year of unexpected change, this was the last straw. Hot tears streaming down her face, Leila watched as the muddy, brown landscape outside the car windows. Still, the conversation formed a weight in her chest.

This wasn't fair to her mom either. Her son and husband were dead, her depression had returned, and she spent everyday in a tiny London apartment just to be that much closer to her daughter. A daughter who was the only true family she had left, somewhere out there in a world whose map had been reset in less than a year, going around and tending to the dead and injured on battlefields she didn't know. All this, while knowing that somehow, her husband had helped contribute to this mess and having to live that that secret everyday.

Leila wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her sweatshirt and shifted in her seat so she could better face her mother. "I'm sorry. I love you too."

Marie sniffled, grabbing her daughter and pulling her into her embrace. "Don't ever be sorry. Remember, if we hadn't funded that program, we never would've gotten you."

* * *

"Gary!"

"Leila! How's my girl doing?" Leila raced down the street just outside of the Hillington military airport and jumped into the arms of her friend.

"By all means, honey, break my ribs."

She winced in sympathy, "I forget, sometimes." He shook his head, smiling, and mimicked his voice to match hers.

"Sometimes I forget I'm-"

"Shh!" Leila threw him a cautioned look. "Noise has a way of drowning out everything except what we want it to."

"You know I wouldn't say it anyway, Leila."

When they first met, it was at a temporary medical center in Yugoslavia. Gary had been shot in the thigh and it was Leila who was given the task of caring for him. Although Gary had made for a terrible patient- _What the HELL are you doing with THAT needle, girlie? Get that motherfucker away from me now!_– the two had quickly bonded over their mutual snark._It''s a tetanus shot, Mr. Seven. It's going in your ass so you can live to bitch at our miracle medical procedures another day._

The secret itself had been revealed accidentally, of course. The next year, Gary joined Leila for her leave during Christmas. Leila's father had been rushed out in an ambulance before they'd arrived home with her mother in tow. His heart issues had really been acting up that fall and winter.

Leila and Robert had both gotten home much later, and after Marie's insistence, had promised to crash at home for the night and visit the next day.

They thought Gary had decided to sleep in for Christmas morning and left him alone while they sipped coffees in front of the front bay window. With the privacy at hand, they'd been discussing the recent takeover of Sub-Saharan Africa when Robby had posed the question to her. "_Well, Leila, what do you say? Think you could take over half continent?" _It was in good humour, and they both knew it.

"_Probably, yes. But I wouldn't. Just because I'm capable of it doesn't mean I have the right to. What gives me the right, the direction, to claim myself in charge over there? Besides, that kind of work doesn't particularly strike me as being a one-person job."_

The look of disbelief on Gary's face after coming down the stairs to hear those words was nothing compared to the look her mom had given them when she'd come down on Christmas morning to see the three of them frantically attempting to get coffee stains out of her ivory carpet. He'd thought Leila was joking... At first. Hysterical that this new strange friend of Leila's would report his sister to the government, Robby had actually thrown his steaming hot cup at Gary's head before tackling him into the coffee table and knocking him out stone cold.

_"Robby- Robby! Just calm down. I have his medical records... I'll just… fix them up and leave a note about a psychotic episode." _This appeased her brother somewhat, although he wasn't too thrilled with the idea of flat-out ruining a man's life like that. Instead, the two of them compromised: They would tell Gary the truth about Leila's adoption and if he ratted on them, then she could fudge the records.

Bur Gary surprised them. "_Mentally and emotionally, I just can't see you in them, or them in you, Leila_–"

"–Leila? Leila, they need your signature too, you know." She blinked out of her reverie, grabbing the pen that the officer in front of her held out. Signing her name, she followed Gary out to the buses. "Tough couple of weeks back home?" He asked her. Gary, had proven to be a true friend, keeping her secret safe and providing himself a beloved confidante. His eyes softened at the look that must've reached hers. "Well, I guess that's obvious. I'm sorry about your dad."

Leila sighed, leaning against the back wall behind their seats. "Thanks." She peered at him, craning her head around to face him, "So where are you off to next?"

Gary looked up, and she suddenly felt the atmosphere change into something much more serious than that of their catching-up chat seconds before. "Actually, Leila, it's more along the lines of 'where are you off to next...'" His eyes examined her closely. "Because you're actually not going into Hillingdon. Right now, you're coming with me."

* * *

Leila had been incredibly precocious from a young age, reading everything she could get her hands on and showing great promise in the sciences. She knew it was because of her engineering- her parents had never tried to keep that fact from her. The fact that she was engineered, not that her engineering was responsible for her talents and abilities.

Still, she had made that connection on her own. She remembered the time back in high school when she'd ran cross country. How proud she'd been of her mile time during that first meet. Overbearingly satisfied, to the point where Leila's teammates stopped talking to her, knowing they'd only be looked down upon for their own abilities. And then, her coach's voice in her head when she'd dropped her from the state championship after she'd found Leila mocking one of the slower girls on the team after practice. "_You're not nearly as important as you think you are, Leila Offenhouse."_ Or the humiliation of finding out her own parents had supported the decision and were ashamed of their daughter's arrogance.

However, her inquisitive and competitive nature had also led Leila to other, more wonderful things. She had gotten into the pre-med program at John Hopkins and graduated at the top of her class. She had been fortunate enough to avoid the regular female draft put in place after the augment takeover, escaping a fate as a regular officer at some base or another near the chaotic borders of the Great Khanate. Instead, she had volunteered as a medic as part of a university program, staying on after she received her bachelor's degree. She had the ability to help others, so why not put it to use? Med school could wait, and until then, the war was more than sufficient training.

Of course, this meant Leila spent most of her time outside. Ransacked battle sites, dirty hospitals set up days away from the nearest city, the wilderness and the slum camps- these were the places she travelled to. Not offices. Never offices.

* * *

Simply put, offices were always boring. Gary's was particularly dull. The wallpaper was an old pattern from the 50s. The areas not covered up with the maps were filled with post it notes. _Border dispute 4/3/94. Conference with RAF tomorrow on SE emergency Tuesday. Meet w/I. Pub menu under envelope box._ These were some of the eligible ones.

Across from her, the wheels on an ancient desk chair screeched as Gary sat and crossed his right leg over his left. He opened his mouth to speak, closed it, and then leaned back, studying her closely. "Leila, I need you to do something for me."

She stared at him blankly, "Of course, what do you need?" Gary paused.

"It's going to... Well, you'll have to first swear to God that on your life you will never tell anyone about what I'm about to ask of you, even if you say no."

_Alright then._ Her plane for wheretheheckamigoingistan left in two hours. She had places to be and she had just gotten back from what was undoubtedly the most senseless 'funeral' ever and on top of that, it was for her dad. There was no time for Gary's flip-flop manner. Leila sighed, "Gary Seven, you're my friend, I trust you with my life, literally. Whatever is going on here, I won't tell a soul. If you're secretly a Martian in disguise or a former Chippendale's dancer, or a combination of the two, I won't judge."

The analog clock on the wall clicked on second by second as Gary faced her with weary eyes. _He isn't even laughing at my little mood lightener._ "I don't know if you mean that, Leila. Because I need you to do just that– keep quiet and trust me with your life because you're the only person who can do this for me."

_She could do this. _Leila's lips twitched upwards. "Okay. Anything else I should know about? Such as what you're actually alluding with all these dreadfully suspenseful hints?"

Scowling, Gary twirled a pencil in his fingers, "Well, I can't really tell you anything else–"

"The hell?"

"It doesn't work that way!"

"Fine. How long will it take?" Leila leaned back and cracked her neck to the side. "An hour? A day? A few months on and off?"

Gary dropped the pencil to the desk and hit it flat with his palm, leaving a long, thin mark in the dust settled there. "You'll be leaving your volunteer post for a week or so. And write Marie before you go. If anything does go wrong– well, you won't want to be writing her, I guarantee it."

"So I'll be heading on an adventure then, and the dangers associated with it means I might never see my mom again?"

"No," he told her, "You'll see her again. Count on it."

She nodded. "I'll hold you to it."

"Leila, thank you." The tired look was still in his eyes and his shoulders were still hunched over with knots, but she saw the gratitude in his face.

"Yes, for you." She stood up and stretched out her arms. "When do I leave?"

"Tomorrow night."

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**Starting on Chapter 3 tonight as well. Thank you all again and feedback is free and welcome… you know? ;)**


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